Kenko Tokina enters cine lens market with 16-28mm T3.0 wide zoom

The ever-increasing video capability of digital SLRs has seen manufacturers such as Canon, Samyang and Zeiss make video-optimised versions of their conventional lenses, and now Kenko Tokina is getting in on the act. The Tokina 16-28mm T3.0 is a manual focus version of the AT-X 16-28mm f/2.8 Pro FX wideangle zoom, with a redesigned barrel that features the usual refinements for video work, including geared focus, zoom and aperture rings, and scales designed to be read from the side of the camera. It'll be made in Canon EF and Arri PL mounts, with a suggested retail price of ¥580,000 - almost 5 times that of the lens it's based on.

Comments

It is a superb lens I combine with the Nikon D800 and I am astonished how little corrections are needed. I work most of the time with DXO Optics Pro Elite. That means that all the needed corrections are executes at once. It is a real value for money lens and the missing of image stabilizing is no hinder as I use this wide angle most of the time on a tripod.

Is this going to be optically better than the other cine lenses already on sale? Very unlikely.

Much better built? No.

Is it much cheaper than the other cine lenses? Clearly not.

Will it have a bigger ecosystem of lenses with matched "feel"? Again, that's almost undoubtedly a "no".

What advantages does this bring to the market? Is there even one thing that's significantly better than the competition? If they do have something, they need to inform marketing about it - because I'm not seeing it!

This looks very much like a hopelessly late, desperate leap to jump onto a really shiny bandwagon that was last seen rolling past a few months ago...

I'd wait for these in the sales bin. Along with the battered remnants of Kenko/Tokina in due course...

This lens has a super limited, i.e. less than 2:1 zooming range, and is basically a manual photi lens. Nobody is (or should be) paying close to 6 grands for it. That price would be nothing short of perverse.

you guys really know nothing about cinema lenses do you? I mean before you knock Tokina please try to understand a little of what you are talking about. This lens is the only zoom lens in cine market at the price point of a canon prime.

T stop or transmission stops are the relative real world amount of light coming through the lens accounting for absorption by the lens elements. The lens itself is the 16-28mm f/2.8 but in reality only the equivalent of f/3 light comes through. This is important for cinematography as maintaining a consistent exposure is crucial.

Correct - The issue really comes forward when matching two different lenses together with the same exposure within the same lighting situation. Using T-stops you can calculate equivalent exposures and trust that you are getting what is expected. Using f-stops can lead to inconsistencies between angles that are jarring.

Something else to consider is the color rendition of a lens. Most cinematographers stick to the same brand of lenses for an entire film to ensure consistent color rendition to further ensure consistency between shots.

This is why the Zeiss CP.2 and the Schneider Cine-Xenar sets are popular. You get a full set of cinema lenses with consistent color renditions, already geared for interfacing with follow focus, and pre-calculated T-stops.

Now that everyone with DSLR thinks they're a cinematographer I just wish more of them would learn how to shoot. A couple of days ago I watched a full-length documentary on Sky Arts predominantly featuring interviews and almost every single shot was focused on the background - well behind the subject. I wish that I could say that this is unusual. We used to call this stuff "wobblyvision". Still, given the atrocious ergonomics and the Heath Robinson rigs (for those of a certain age) I guess we shouldn't expect too much.5X the price! Wunnerful!"Never give a sucker an even break"W.C. Fields

The Pentax 12-24 mm f/4 lens is a Tokina OEM design. But Tokina itself has no K mount in the current line out. The newer and outstanding 11-16 mm however has not been adopted by Pentax. I am waiting for that one since years.

Tighter tolerances for cine lenses should be irrelevant due to the significantly lower resolution.

More relevant is the complete different mechanical design. For once to offer the cine form factor of larger housing plus gears. Plus a different focal mechanism to avoid breathing when focusing and breathing when zooming. This is lots of design engineering, production engineering and development of test equipment to do manufacturing testing which need to be paid for by a relatively small sales qty. Thus the steep price increase.

I would be curious if they have done anything to help the lens be a true parfocal lens. As you zoom the point of focus will invariably shift - it seems like since it uses the same optical design that they assume this just isn't an issue for wide angle.

Exactly! I have wondered this for a while. Come on Tokina - stop making cine lenses and produce lenses you have shown for 2 years at photo shows! Maybe now that Nikon has it's own 70-200 f/4 they decided there isn't a large enough market for it. But if the Nikon version is overpriced, and I know Tokina could do better.

Samyang is very much the exception rather than the rule here. Roger Cicala's recent blog post [There is No Perfect Lens](http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2013/09/there-is-no-perfect-lens) makes an interesting case for why movie lenses tend to be substantially more expensive than the stills version of the same optical design.

I don't think they will make substantial better quality control on this lens - certainly not the way Roger suggests that cinema lenses need to be highly calibrated in his blog. The optical specs are the same as the normal lens, it's really just the barrel which is different. I think they look at it as a niche product, selling few copies to pros that can afford it.

The differences are almost entirely mechanical, considering the largest cost in optical designs are the optics themselves the Samyang scenario 'should' be the rule. That said, the far more limited production runs will increase costs per unit substantially.

@ abortabort: The mechanical design of cine lenses is unfortunately complex and so is their manufacturing, assembling and testing. Combine with with small production qty to amortize the high development cost and then it makes sense.

The biggest cost in optical designs is the labor--to design and make the components, assemble, test, adjust and if necessary, discard. I had four of the Samyang 14mm lenses. Each was different and three were ok but I doubt that's the sort of consistency Tokina is aiming for in this market.